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a film by Nettie Wild WINNER GENIE AWARD BEST CANADIAN DOCUMENTARY 1999 A ZEITGEIST FILMS RELEASE a film by Nettie Wild On January 1, 1994, the Zapatista National Liberation Army, made up of impoverished Mayan Indians from the state of Chiapas, took over five towns and 500 ranches in southern Mexico. The Government deployed its troops, and at least 145 people died in the ensuing battle. Fighting for indigenous Mexicans to regain control over their lives and the land, the Zapatista Army, led by the charismatic, guerilla poet Subcommandante Marcos, started sending their message to the world via the Internet. The result was what The New York Times called “the world’s first post-modern revolution.” Filmmaker Nettie Wild travelled to the jungle canyons of southern Mexico to film the elusive and fragile life of the uprising. Her camera effectively and movingly captures the human dimensions behind this war of symbols. SYNOPSIS ubcomandante Marcos lights his pipe and says straight into the camera,”You’ve still got a lot of Sresearch to do. I don’t know what you have been doing all this time. How long have you been in Chiapas?” “Five months,” replies filmmaker Nettie Wild. “Hmm...” says the military commander of the Zapatista uprising, “....I’ve been here 12 years and I’m barely starting to understand.” Marcos is a pipe-smoking, charismatic contradiction. He’s a “mestizo”, a Mexican of mixed Spanish/Indian blood. He’s an intellectual from the city who is the military leader and spokesman for an indigenous guerrilla army. On January 1st, 1994, the Zapatista indigenous uprising took over five towns and 500 ranches in southern Mexico. Then they started communicating their message to the world on the internet. The Mayan Indians of Chiapas were in Cyberspace. At the keyboard was Subcomandante Marcos. Since the first days of the uprising there has been a nervous ceasefire. Now, three years later, Nettie Wild and her Canadian/Mexican film crew travel to the jungle canyons of Chiapas to capture eight months in the elusive and fragile life of a revolution. Marcos is using the media as a long range missile to hold off 30,000 Mexican army troops who encircle Zapatista territory. His internet communiqués challenge the Mexican government and taunt the international capitalist system. His poetry and rhetoric woo Mexicans with dreams of a new democracy. His stories tell of the Indians of Chiapas, who are so poor they are forced to try and change the world in order to survive it. In the middle is Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia. The Mayan people call him “Tatic”. It means grandfather. For 30 years the Bishop had worked for peaceful change in Chiapas. Then in 1994, village after village turned to the Zapatistas and went to war. Now, the indigenous people have turned back to the Bishop to mediate a fitful series of peace talks between the Zapatistas and the government. In the north of Chiapas, Manuel Garcia lives outside of Zapatista-protected territory. He and 2000 other indigenous villagers share the Zapatista dream for change.. But now they are homeless and living in fear. They are refugees in their own country. Despite the ceasefire, they have been forced out of their villages by a government backed paramilitary group which ironically calls itself, “Paz y Justicia” or “Peace and Justice”. The paramilitary group accuses anyone who opposes them of being Zapatista guerrillas. On camera, the Peace and Justice accuse the Zapatistas of violence. Off camera, they threaten to kill the Mexican members of the film crew. Out of their homes for four months, the refugees are desperate. They turn to the Bishop and the Zapatistas for help. But Marcos and the comandantes’ hands are tied by the peace talks. The guerrilla army can’t defend the refugees or they will break the ceasefire . The Bishop is also afraid to make a move for fear Chiapas will collapse into civil war. The government denies the paramilitary groups exist. The refugees are left stranded, pawns in a ceasefire. They are fighting a war on their own. Nettie Wild went to Chiapas to film an uprising. She ended up framing the entrapment of a revolution. It is a journey through fear and hope and illusion. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 1910 MEXICAN REVOLUTION Today’s Zapatistas take their name from Emiliano Zapata, the hero of Mexico’s revolution. Zapata fought under the banner of “Tierra y Libertad” which translates literally into “Land and Liberty”. The Mexican revolution was a complicated affair involving many armies. Emiliano Zapata led a largely campesino (peasant) army which was fighting primarily for land. Eventually Zapata joined forces with amongst others, Pancho Villa, and in 1914 rode victoriously into Mexico City. He didn’t stay long. It was clear to Zapata that other forces within the newly- formed political alliances were playing for power, not to return land to the campesinos. In 1919 Zapata was tricked and assassinated by the government. By 1930, the government’s ruling party was calling itself the Institutional Revolutionary Party. It has been in power ever since. 1994 ZAPATISTA UPRISING Who are the Zapatistas? Who is Marcos? On January 1, 1994, the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) took over 5 towns and over 500 ranches in Chiapas, one of the poorest states in Mexico. The Zapatistas say they chose this date because it marked the first day of the North Amercian Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which they claim “is a death sentence for the Indian peoples of Mexico.” The Zapatista demands stated they wanted control over their lives (indigenous rights, education, healthcare) and the land. The Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) is a guerrilla army made up of largely indigenous Mayan people including Tzotziles, Tzeltales, Tojolabales and Choles. The leadership calls themselves the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee (CRII-CG). They say they represent over 1000 Zapatista communities. The military leader and spokesman for the Zapatista Army is Subcomandante Marcos who is not a Mayan and not from Chiapas. The government says he is a professor of philosophy and communications from Mexico City. It appears that Marcos came to the jungle 12 years before the uprising. He brought with him a quest for social change and an unerring sense of how to fight a revolution through the media. His poems, political harangues and short stories flood newspapers, magazines, television news and the internet with stories of the Mexican southeast.. Together, Marcos and the Mayans of Chiapas, have created what the New York times calls “the world’s first post modern revolution”. A CHRONOLOGY OF THE ZAPATISTA UPRISING January 1, 1994: The Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) takes over 5 towns and more than 500 ranches in Chiapas, southern Mexico. January 6, 1994: The Zapatistas retreat into the jungle. People die on both sides Some say 150, some say 500. January 12, 1994: The government declares a ceasefire. Most of the ranches remain in Zapatista hands. February 1994: A “dialogue” between government negotiators and the Zapatistas takes place. June, 1994: The Zapatistas announce that after consulting with their communities in the Lacandon jungle, they are rejecting the government’s peace proposals. December 19, 1994: The Zapatistas briefly seize towns and roadblocks throughout Chiapas. December 24, 1994: The government accepts rebel demands for a church-led mediation commission (CONAI) to handle future peace talks. The CONAI is headed up by the Bishop of San Cristobal, Samuel Ruiz Garcia. February 9, 1995: Federal judicial police claim they have discovered clandestine arms depots in Mexico City and Veracruz. They “unmask” Subcomandante’s Marcos’ identity and order his arrest. Thousands of soldiers move into rebel territory for the first time since the uprising to arrest rebel leaders. All they find is Marcos’ pipe. April, 1995: A new round of peace talks gets underway. February 1996: A partial accord on indigenous rights is signed by the Zapatistas and the chief negotiator for the government. August 1996: The Zapatistas withdraw from the peace talks. The Zapatistas say they will not return until conditions change, including government implementation of the signed accord and the end to escalating violence against Zapatista civilian communities in Chiapas. December 1997: Paramilitary forces aligned with the ruling party massacre 45 villages accused of being Zapatistas. The dead include 10 men, 21 women and 14 children. June 7, 1998: Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia withdraws as mediator of the peace talks, stating that his work has been undermined by a government campaign aimed at discrediting him. He headed up the National Mediation Commission (CONAI), which resigned hours later, alleging government intransigence and unwillingness to negotiate with the Zapatista guerillas. Oct 9, 1998: US Senate and Congress introduce a “Sense of Congress Resolution” demanding increased human rights in Chiapas. Included in the many points, it urges the US government to: (1) take effective measures to ensure that United States assistance and exports of equipment to Mexican security forces (a) are used primarily for counter-narcotics purposes; and (b) do not contribute to human rights violations; (2) encourage the Government of Mexico to reduce political tension and violence in Chiapas by disarming paramilitary groups and decreasing its military presence there. The story continues... Mexican federal police have identified 12 different paramilitary groups now operating in the state of Chiapas. Local villagers report that there are in fact more, but it is unclear as to how many. In 1998 and 1999 there have been at least 70 political killings in Chiapas and there are now more than 17,000 internal refugees. A PLACE CALLED CHIAPAS was filmed over eight months from June 1996 to February 1997 FILMMAKERS BIOS NETTIE WILD Producer, Director, Co-Writer and Co-Cinematographer Canadian Nettie Wild is best known for her documentary feature films A RUSTLING OF LEAVES:INSIDE THE PHILIPPINE REVOLUTION (1989) and BLOCKADE (1993), both of which have won acclaim at film festivals around the world.